I am disturbed a lot these days. Sometimes, I'm even angry! Irate! FURIOUS! Our nation is headed down the wrong path and I have to fulfill my conservative duty, which, in William F. Buckley, Jr's immortal reference, is to "Stand athwart history, yelling 'STOP'!" And I will certainly be yelling the whole time! Louder and LOUDER!
But I wonder...is this really the most effective way to persuade the culture of the efficacy of my values? The old adage about catching more flies with honey is not a particularly appealing mental image, but there is a lot of truth in it, nonetheless.
I am bothered, especially in the blogosphere, but in the political arena at large, by the lack of civility that I observe at times. I refuse to read the Daily Kos, for instance; the venom that is spewed there is unconscionable. But let's face it; I probably wouldn't be posting about this if these problems were limited to the liberals, the Democrats, the socialists...the other side, in essence.
There is no one who will mount a stronger argument than I will for the absolute necessity of standing with unflinching strength for the principles of liberty, for Judeo-Christian values in the public square and for government in the mould of the Founding Fathers. When either side, Democrat or Republican, strays from these ideals, we need to call them on it with clarion resonance.
But as we demand an accounting from our government and the media, let us do so with a forthright sense of compassion and justice. It is, for instance, not slanderous, inappropriate or dishonest to refer to President Obama's policies as socialist. That is description, not an attack. It is cruel and mean-spirited, however, to label the President as a "dirty, Muslim pig", a smear I have seen from at least one conservative. (For my fellow Christian believers out there, the un-Biblical essence of such verbiage is also worthy of discussion, but we'll save that for another time.)
As he has in so many ways, Indiana's own Congressman Mike Pence has led the way in making this very argument and in living it out in his own political career. No one exemplifies conservative leadership more than Mike Pence does and no one exceeds his articulate abilities. At times, his vigorous displeasure is manifestly apparent. Yet, the raised voices and unpleasantness that characterize a certain aspect of political debate today are never exhibited by the Congressman from Indiana's 6th District.
I can guarantee I'll be writing more about this later, possibly very soon. In the meantime, I am determined to engage in more contemplation about espousing my convictions and philosophy with determination, but with evenness and empathy.
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1 comment:
I agree, we need to educate using facts and easy to understand logic. There's too much he said she said, talking points, and arguments that aren't backed by anything for people to make up their minds. At the same time, we should not be afraid to call people out. Many of these politicians are immoral, criminals, or liars at the very least. It's one thing to call names, it's another to define someone based on their own words and actions.
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